Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fabulous Valentine's Day yesterday. It was really relaxing having it on a Sunday. We let the kids open their present first thing in the morning. I don't think they could have waited a second longer.
We got them each a small stuffed animal and a little bit of candy. I also made them both a "I love you" book from a really cute digital scrapbook kit. It tried to make little slideshow video's, but they take kind of a long time to load. So, if you are one of the lucky hi-speed interneters, I hope you enjoy!




I also tried to really surprise Dave. I've still felt kinda bad about the whole HUGE Christmas surprise he gave me. I don't remember if I ever blogged about it, but for Christmas, we were not supposed to get each other anything. We were only spending on the kids this year. I thought I was being really sneaky and got him a couple of shirts. Then, on Christmas morning I came out to a huge surprise - an elliptical. So, I've really neede to redeem myself since then. We don't normally make a very big deal out of Valentine's day, but this year I got him kind of a bigger present. He's eyeing on of these for quite some time:

It's a make-your-own soda machine. You just fill the bottle with tap water and it carbonates it for you. They also have tons of different soda flavors. He got quite a few to start with. The cool thing is most of the flavors have very little sugar and less than half the calories that store-bought soda does. The cost of the soda is also quite a bit less. So, we had a fun afternoon sampling the different flavors. The kids hardly ever get anything to drink but water or milk, so it was an extra special treat for them.

I also made one of our favorite desserts:

I'm not sure exactly what to call it - maybe a Strawberry Shortcake parfait? . It's super easy to make and WAY better than normal strawberry shortcake. To make it, you cut angel food cake into chunks and put in a 9x12 pan. Then, add cut up strawberries. I really think the more the better. In the meantime, prepare one box of strawberry jello. Pour the jello over the angel foodcake and strawberries already in the pan. The angel foodcake will naturally absorb some of the jello. Allow it to set in the fridge for a few hours. Then, prepare one small box of vanilla pudding. Top the jello bottom part with the pudding. Finally, top the pudding with whipped cream. It's really heavenly!!! The cool thing is you can find fat free and sugar free jello, pudding and whipped topping, so even if you're on a diet, this is still a winner.

Oh - can't forget a picture of the beautiful flowers Dave got me. I love the smell of flowers in the winter!

I'm so lucky to have such an amazing husband!